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Makarkinia - Giant Prehistoric Antlions


APerson1
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Alright! So, for anyone who isn't familiar with Antlions, they're a group of Neuropterans with a very interesting life cycle. While the adults end looking like a generic flying insect, the larvae take a far more.. interesting approach to life.

ant_lion_adult_open_wings_08-02-.png.563121472688544111ffeae77e780235.png

antlion.png.56e03fb987a1edeba040657e68e15a47.pngDoodlebug_doodles.jpg.81b0b811734ad74adefaf01e3563a6f6.jpg

Antlion larvae hide within the sand, acting as a sort of deadly trap for small arthropods passing by. This is where Makarkinia comes in. An extinct genus of lacewings, which fall into the same order as Antlions, Makarkinia kerneri sported a beautiful false-eye pattern on its wings.

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My suggestion is to take the most interesting aspects of these creatures, as well as some from their modern relatives, and combine them into a terrifying foe to encounter within the deserts of Scorched Earth. In order to preserve the interesting body structure of their larvae, Makarkinia would display an extreme form of sexual dimorphism, with the Males maintaining their terrestrial larval bodies and the females morphing into flying forces of nature. This vote came a bit too suddenly for me to have my own ideas just yet, so here's something Exc_Sanguine_Wes on discord put together for me:

"An ancient lineage with great representation, Makarkinia are fascinating bugs. Gigantic wings with eyes that glow radiant in the night, razor-tipped forelimbs, and a hankering for Nectar and blood. The males are the horrifying ones. Much like the modern antlion, young Makarkinia make pits to lure in creatures. The mothers supply their young with enough Nectar to lure in prey till grown. However, the males don't grow out of this phase. They spend their whole life as underground monsters and by the time they are adult, they're a whole worse beast.

Male Makarkinia are also Bioluminescent. However, for them, it's their head. A pulsating glow in the sand that lures in prey, day or night. They can even produce natural flares using the gel that allows them to glow to light up the night and get the attention of victims. They are not confined to their burrows, they just excel at making deadly traps. When they leave their burrows, they're rather slow but still have strong enough jaws to give a Tyrannosaurus a run for their money."

This suggestion is extremely rough around the edges (and in general), as I know wildcard is primarily looking at the creatures themselves, not the contents of the submissions. I encourage anyone who has anything to add or any criticisms of the giant antlion idea to leave their thoughts in the replies. Thank you!

Edited by APerson1
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I have an extra photo and a web link you can reference for your proper submission, I was going to suggest it but you said this is a placeholder so here you go. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-amber-unveils-evolution-ancient-antlions.amp

Basically you could make an argument for this guy being a burrowing creature that lays traps, and it can be good for carrying things like it shows in the picture and they talk about in the article.

99A880D7-6BE4-4383-AA8C-1A74A7BB02B2.webp

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I was going to make this suggestion too! They fit well in Scorched Earth since the larval state almost exclusively lives in sand. That usually means deserts but sometimes they live on beaches too. It would also possibly introduce the first Ark species which changes significantly during it's life cycle. This could mean that during its "child" phase, it lives in its larval stage and has unique functions, and during it's adult phase, it could turn into it's adult dragonfly-like state, possibly being a tameable alternative to the Meganeura. It could also possibly be sized up to give us another rideable insect, but I think it would work cooler as a shoulder or follower tame that has special abilities. This also could serve as a prime example of a new feature being introduced in Ark: Survival Ascended - wild baby creatures.

 

This famous BBC clip shows the hunting practices of modern larval antlions. They make cones in the sand to trap small insects in minefields, and they shoot sand to stun escaping prey. A sized up version of this creature could serve as tameable landmine which can stun players. They could also possess the ability to shoot sand to stun or blind other creatures

And if this is sounding a little familiar to you, you may be thinking about another antlion from a different popular creature-based game:

Top 10 Pokemon Fans Want to Return in Scarlet & Violet's DLC Add-Ons

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Most people who have seen this abomination were not able to tell the story. sand dust GIF by Justin Timberlake

 

 

This dino hides in Sand very near to any lymantria/mantis spawn point spawn point. 

 

This giant insect digs a sand trap and waits till it senses something walking on top of it, when the prey is on the trap he moves the Sand so the dino will be drawn into him to have an easy meal. 

Taming method: drag and throw an insect into Its Sand trap and throw it inside(try not to Fall in there lol) 

The taming percentage will depend on the thrown insect. 

 

Stats

Very Tanky 450-Base HP but has mediocre scaling

Base damage stat 25

When on trap Mode it has a x5 damage against any insect-type dino

Right click- atack is a gran/bite which drains the stam of the objective

Left click- is a normal bite atack

C-  would be a Sand throw atack,blurs Vision and disables a flyers Ability to *fly*(this has Synergy with trap Mode and its used by wild lion ants if Theres a lymantria flying close to it) 

Interacting with it you  can entable trap Mode in which he'l make the same trap as the Wild Variant. (But you can specify which Kind of prey you want it to Grab) . 

You can select if you want to enable Sand throw or not while on trap Mode

(you can go into trap mod while riding but youll Start losing Oxygen)

If he is on passive the trap will still be activated and the only change is it will not deal damage to whatever he trapper. 

(A great tool for taming;

Stamina is a very important stat to boost on it since the time a dino will be trap depends on that. 

 

After tame you'll have the Option to let it go into Coccon stage:

After a certain time itl come out as an adult and lion

(yep, that thing that killed you was a just a baby) 

After emerging from the Coccon it comes scorched earths signature Scouting Flyer. 

He will have a base sprinting speed of 3600.

Left click-Will be able to Grab small creatures with its (feet?) 

Right click-shots dimorphodon like venom

X3 weakness to fire damage

150 base weight

200 base hp

Inmune to sandstorm effects.

 

 

 

 

Antlions.jpg

PA-Ant-lion.jpg

Edited by Okapi04
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